Chapter Five: The Magic Revealed
"So the rabbi turns to Bowser and says, 'Well, you shouldn't be here either!'"
The Nicelanders laughed at Deanna's joke. Felix had heard it many times before, but he still smirked.
Back in the ballroom, the music had switched to a series of quiet instrumentals, so people grouped together and had little conversations.
"Pardon me, can we just . . . thanks. Coming through. Sorry, was that your foot? Oh, there he is!"
Ralph weaved between the characters, with the Sorceress (his girlfriend!) in tow. "Hey, Felix!" he said.
"Ralph?" Felix peered around him at the strange blue-skinned woman. "Is this a friend?"
"You could say that." Ralph stepped aside. "This is the Sorceress from the Whac-a-Troll."
"Nice to meet you," Felix said, lifting his hat in an attempt to be polite.
"She's-"
"I'm Ralph's girlfriend," she butted in.
Felix blinked twice. "I'm sorry, I'm confused."
"He asked me out and I said, 'yes,'" the Sorceress explained. "Does that clear it up?"
Felix didn't like her sarcasm. He turned back to Ralph. "When did you meet her? Just now, at the party?"
"Oh, no, no, it was earlier this morning."
A small frown crossed Felix's face. "Ralph, may I talk to you alone?"
Ralph looked at the Sorceress, who nodded. He let go of her hand. "Fine."
They moved away to an empty space in the ballroom. Felix got straight to the point. "Ralph, you can't go out with a woman you just met."
"Yes, I can," Ralph replied immediately. "At least, I can if I love her."
"You met this morning! How do you know that you really love her?"
Ralph shrugged. "Well, how long did it take you to work out that you really loved Calhoun before you kissed her?"
"She kissed me!" Felix spluttered.
"Tomayto, tomahto." Ralph folded his arms.
"How I feel about Tammy and what you think of the Sorceress are completely different."
"No, they're not! Don't kid yourself. You're just getting worked up because for once you can't take the moral high ground here."
Felix clenched his fists, then sighed and unclenched them. "I'm going." He turned and quickly walked towards the double doors.
"What?" Ralph came after him. "Wait up!" He grabbed Felix's arm – and pulled Felix's glove off.
Felix gasped, spun around and reached for the glove in panic. "Give that back!"
"No." Ralph held it above Felix's head. "Felix, I can't take this anymore."
"Can't take what anymore?"
"You. . ." Ralph searched for words. "You not wanting anything to do with me."
Felix saw the hurt in his brother's eyes and it was too much. He made a beeline for the doors.
"Stop!"
The music was paused. Everyone ceased their conversations and focused on Ralph and Felix.
"What did I ever do to you?" Ralph asked.
Felix opened his mouth, but had no answers. "Not now," he pleaded.
"Why do you do this to me?" Ralph continued. "Why do you never let me in? Why do you hate it so much when things don't go your way?"
Felix squeezed his eyes shut. His fingers were tingling and getting colder.
"What are you so afraid of?!"
Something in Ralph's question hit him hard. Felix swept around. "I said, not now!"
Ice shot out from his hand and spiked across the floor!
Guests cried out and backed away. The Frogger frog leapt out of his skin. Pac-Man's jaw dropped. Candlehead raised a hand to poke one of the spikes, but Taffyta took Candlehead's wrist and shook her head.
Ralph stared at the icicles. They all seemed to be pointing at him. All he could get out was, "Felix?"
But the handyman had disappeared.
. . .
Felix burst through the main doors onto the courtyard. A few characters were milling around, oblivious to what had happened inside.
"Hi, Felix!"
"Great party, huh?"
"Wait, are you alright?"
Their words made Felix's chest tighten even more. He ducked through the people, holding his bare hand. His breaths were short. His head spun.
"Hey, buddy, need a drink?"
The speaker – Swizzle, he thought his name was – popped up in Felix's face.
"N-no . . . I'm fine," Felix stuttered. He took a step backwards, but knocked a table of milkshakes. It wobbled. He grabbed the edge of the table. It froze at his touch, along with the drinks themselves.
Gasps spread over the crowd.
"Whoa," Swizzle breathed. "Chill, man."
That doesn't help!, Felix screamed in his mind.
The Nicelanders were coming outside now. "There he is!" Don pointed at Felix.
"Whatever you're doing, make it stop!" cried Mary.
"Please," begged Felix, "stay away from me!" He darted towards the castle gates.
Gene started to say, "But we need to-"
"No!"
Icy magic accidentally burst out and transformed the ground. All the Nicelanders slipped and fell over at the same time.
"He's turning into a monster!" Nel yelped.
A sudden cold wind swept through Sugar Rush. Tiny snowflakes drifted along with it. Icicles grew on the archway of the gates. More and more people were screaming.
Ralph appeared in the doorway. "Felix!"
Felix fled. He darted down the curved path, hearing nothing but the wind in his ears, feeling nothing but the snowflakes hitting his face, thinking nothing but, I have to get out of here. He only stopped when he came to a river of chocolate. The shoreline cooled under his feet. He looked down to see the ground carpeted with a thin layer of snow.
"Felix, wait!" a voice called.
Felix glanced back. Ralph had been following him, with the Sorceress not far behind.
Felix suddenly leapt across the river. Boing. In mid-air, it occurred to him that the other side was too far away to be cleared by one jump. He braced himself for a soaking –
And nothing happened. He landed on something solid. His feet had turned part of the river into ice.
"Stop! Don't you want your glove back?" Ralph called again. He was at the shoreline now. He slipped and landed on his butt.
Felix ignored him and kept hopping, the chocolate freezing with each landing. Boing. Boing. Boing. He reached the far shore, scrambled over a jawbreaker and disappeared.
The Sorceress pulled Ralph to his feet. "Have you seen what's happening?" she gasped.
The ice spread until the chocolate river was completely frozen. But it didn't stop there. Snow crept over the Easter-egg-like hills and across the fields of lollipops. Taffy swamps turned solid and stiff. Karts were frozen in place. Candy cane trees bent over like old men, their boughs weighed down with snow. In the distance, Diet Cola Mountain slowly developed a white peak.
Winter had arrived in Sugar Rush.
. . .
Back at the castle, all the guests were outside. They looked up at the sky, once bright blue, now a dull grey. The wind was weaker, but the snowflakes still drifted down in ever-thicker flurries. No-one could believe what they were seeing.
"Snow!"
"In summer?!"
"What did he do?"
Questions drifted through the crowd.
The Sorceress had her arm around Ralph as they returned. "Did you know?" she whispered.
Ralph shook his head. He was still thinking about the spot where Felix had vanished.
Meanwhile, Vanellope was glitching to and fro. "It's snowing! It's snowing! Why is Felix making it snow? What is he, a Yeti or something?"
"Or something." Ralph approached. "Pull yourself together, kid."
Vanellope glitched out of Ralph's reach. "Wait a minute. You're not magical too, are you?"
"Huh? No way! I didn't even know Felix could do it until just now."
The Sorceress joined them. "That's right. Ralph is completely ordinary." She saw his face. "In a nice way," she added quickly.
"And Felix is not a monster," Ralph told Vanellope. "He was just scared. I don't think he wanted this." Ralph stood up a little straighter. "This is my fault. I pushed him, so I have to go after him."
"What?" Mary cried. "No! Did you see what he did? We almost died!"
"We slipped on ice," said Gene.
"His ice!"
"Look," Ralph interrupted, "this isn't about who slipped on whose ice. It's about finding Felix and making things right."
"Actually, Ralph, she has a point." Vanellope found an empty table and stood on it. "No-one can go after Felix tonight. We haven't seen what he's capable of. It's too dangerous." Vanellope raised her voice, getting into President Mode. "Wynnchel and Duncan can survey the area tomorrow. For now, everyone should go back to their own games and wait for news. The party's over, people."
Guests walked away, grumbling a little.
"But-" Ralph started.
Vanellope talked over him. "Felix is probably still terrified. If you let him calm down, it'll be easier to talk and clear the air. Literally." As she spoke, she caught a snowflake on her tongue.
Ralph smiled. "Sometimes I forget how sensible you can be."